


all the way back (where I belong)

by gladdecease



Category: Glee
Genre: Community: prompt_in_a_box, Gen, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-30
Updated: 2011-09-30
Packaged: 2017-10-24 05:05:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/259324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gladdecease/pseuds/gladdecease
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rachel's end-of-the-year "goodbye" song has to be <i>perfect</i> this year.</p>
            </blockquote>





	all the way back (where I belong)

Rachel was pacing.

This wasn't terribly unusual behavior for her, so Brad continued experimenting with chord combinations. He'd been writing his own music for years, but you never knew when you might find the perfect combination of sounds. Repeating a broken chord to accompany a preexisting melody could change the entire feel of the song, depending on how you played it.

He was in the middle of deciding whether transposing the tune a few keys higher might make it sound smoother when Rachel finally decided to speak.

"That sounds lovely."

Brad shrugged. It was incomplete, but it was getting closer to how he wanted it to sound with each attempt.

"I wish _I_ \- " she began to say, but cut herself off. With a dry laugh, she said, "Well, maybe once I've had a few years of training, I will."

Probably. "Pretending" hadn't been perfect - the tune had been fairly simple, though the lyrics had heart - but it was a very good start. Brad absentmindedly played the accompaniment for the chorus, wondering how it could be improved upon. Rachel smiled, recognizing the song, and hummed the vocals to give him something to work with. He could hear it, if he listened hard enough - reduce the piano here, add some strings for that melancholy touch, maybe work in a few harmonies in a minor key... it would change the longing-turned-resolution into a sadder, more hopeless yearning.

Not good for a duet, though.

"I, uh, I know none of us have every really said it, but we're very thankful to you, and to the band students you convinced to accompany us. Without you to help our performances, we would be... well, flat."

Not every glee club did a capella. More importantly, not every club _should_. But New Directions wouldn't be hopeless without him, or off key. Brad gave Rachel a look, which he hoped encompassed his skepticism.

"Alright," she conceded, "maybe not _flat_. But we wouldn't be the same." She cleared her throat. "But that isn't the only reason why I came here today. I was hoping you could help me find a song."

Brad turned around on the piano bench. Rachel straightened up, shoulders stiff in a way that suggested she'd memorized what she was about to say.

"As you know, graduation isn't far off, and normally the glee club sings a song honoring Mr. Schue before winter and summer break. But, since so many of us are graduating this year, I wanted to make this one particularly special. I really want to show Mr. Schue, and the whole club, how happy I am to have known them, and how, how _grateful_ I am that they've accepted me." Faltering at the last, she gave Brad a hopeful, pleading look. "Do you know of anything that would express that?"

Smiling, Brad turned back to the piano and started playing a pair of matched broken chords. Thumb, middle, pinky, thumb-middle-thumb-middle-thumb, middle, pinky, repeat. Rachel's eyes widened as he played, and he was once again grateful to not be the only person with such an encyclopaedic knowledge of modern music. It was nice to start playing the accompaniment and have it be instantly recognized, without a word shared between two people.

He would miss that about Rachel.

Smiling, Rachel began to sing.

 _Something in your eyes  
Makes me want to lose myself  
Makes me want to lose myself  
In your arms  
There's something in your voice  
Makes my heart beat fast  
Hope this feeling lasts  
The rest of my life_

Closing his eyes, Brad imagined how the club would perform this. Backup female vocals coming in with the first hint of drums, male vocals joining at the chorus, but ultimately keeping the focus on Rachel.

 _If you knew how lonely my life has been  
And how long I've felt so low  
If you knew how I wanted someone to come along  
And change my life the way you've done_

Yes, this could work. This could be Rachel Berry's high school swan song.

**Author's Note:**

> For the song prompt of Chantal Kreviazuk's "It Feels Like Home To Me" at [prompt_in_a_box](http://community.livejournal.com/prompt_in_a_box)'s September 2011 round.


End file.
